TITLE: Alluded Distress
AUTHOR NAME: Marlena R. Snape
EMAIL:
CATEGORY: Drama
SUB CATEGORY: Romance
RATING: PG-13 for language and such.
CAST: Marlena Dubois, Ashleigh Morgan, Chris Sabin, A.J Styles, as well as mentions and appearance of others throughout. ( Tons of cameos! )

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, y'heard? I only own Marlena Dubois, as minus the last name and picture base? She IS me. Ashleigh is credited to one of my best friends, Candace. Brooklyn Dubois ( the few parts she's in I should say ) is credited to my friend Angel, while Marlena's parents, and her sister Patricia are my real family. Chris Sabin, A.J Styles, and the rest of the NWA:TNA superstars in this story, are to my best rendition of their real selves, but I don't know them, or own them. ( However a girl CAN wish! ) Chris Irvine ( 'Jericho' in the WWE scene ) is not mine either…oh how I wish. He makes a few appearances as well, as do a few other WWE superstars. I own jack shite, okay? So don't sue me for letting my imagination run wild! :-P Enjoy the story.

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Chapter Six: The Changing Times

Things were slowly getting back to normal for Marlena. Every day that Ashleigh and her lived together, was like a giant party. Every night, Chris would come over, and Marlena would be able to tease the couple about dating. Chris didn't seem to mind it, neither did Ashleigh. One night, a night before a pay-per-view, Chris brought Allen with him, to 'Shut Marlena Up'.

Chris lead Allen to a lush apartment building in downtown Nashville, that he only knew as Ashleigh's place. It's the only thing Chris would tell him. Now, over the past few months, Allen had started to get feelings for this girl. Which is partially why he helped with the storylines, so he'd be able to work with her. Mainly it was Allen's way of seeing if it was a crush, or something more.

Getting to the apartment, Allen knocked on the door, as Chris had his hands full, with a couple pizzas, drinks, and even a cute little gift wrapped package for Ashleigh. Marlena opened the door, dressed in a pair of khaki cargo shorts, and a white tank top. Allen was dressed casually in blue jeans and a black tee-shirt, while Chris was sporting a pair of dark brown corduroy cargo pants and a white shirt.

"Uh.. Hi there.." Allen said, as he saw her standing at the door before him. She slowly smirked.

"Hey Allen, Chris… come on in. Here, Chris, let me help you."

Marlena showed them in, and helped Chris take the pizza into the kitchen. Chris had a smile on his face as he walked into the kitchen with her, as Allen went to the living room where Ashleigh was watching "Dirty Dancing". Chris talked quietly with Marlena in the kitchen for a few minutes.

"I hope you don't mind me bringing Allen by."

"Of course not." She said, as she put the drinks in the refrigerator, "Why would I be? I mean, he's a nice guy."

"Well that's good." Chris said, "I mean with him always talking about you and all…I thought it would be cool to have him come by."

"What?" She asked, "Always talking about me?"

"You don't hear it in that locker room. My fucking god…" Chris said, shaking his head with a smile, "I shouldn't even be telling you this. I feel like I'm betraying my boy and stuff."

"I swear I won't say anything…" Marlena said softly, as Chris shrugged.

"He just goes on about how good of a gal you are. And how he thinks you're amazing. And such…"

As Marlena and Chris talked in the kitchen, Allen sat on the sofa in the living room, while Ashleigh sat in the oversized arm chair. She had a smile on her face as she watched the movie.

"God only knows how much I love this movie…" She said quietly, as Allen smirked.

"I know…you damn near wore out the DVD at my house." Ashleigh giggled quietly.

"Sorry?"

"You don't need to be. You're the only one who watched it anyway. I bought it just 'cuz I knew you liked it." Allen said, as he glanced toward the kitchen, where Chris and Marlena were. "You know, Chris failed to mention Marlena would be here…"

"Fail to mention? Allen she lives here…" Ashleigh said, laughing quietly. "Didn't you know? I moved in with her, this is her place. Well, she calls it ours. She'll never let me say, just hers."

"No… I didn't know that…"

"Yep…" she said shortly, "Hey you guys making the pop in there?!" Ashleigh shouted with a laugh, as Chris peeked out from around the corner.

"Nooo…but pretty close." Chris grinned cheekily at her, before walking out with a small box in his hand. "So check it out. I felt the need to get you a pressie."

"I love presents!" Ashleigh exclaimed with a giggle, as she stood up, allowing Chris to sit down. As he did, she sat down on his lap. "So, what did you get me?"

Chris gave Ashleigh the box, and she opened it, revealing a silver chain, with a bright pink diamond pendent. She squeaked with happiness as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, thanking him. Allen rolled his eyes with a smirk, as he noticed Marlena walking into the living room, with a tray.

"Alright, you two, my god - it's called a bedroom." She said with an amused smile, as she placed down the tray on the coffee table. She had dished out pizza, and drinks, and set them out. "What's the movie?"

"We haven't decided on one yet." Allen said lightly, as Marlena sat down next to him, a smile on her face. "But maybe we can figure one out that isn't this damned movie…"

"Hey, I like this movie!" Ashleigh said defensively, but giggled as Chris put the necklace on her. "I love it, Chris. Thank you!"

"You're welcome babe." Chris said with a smile, as he put his arms around Ashleigh's waist. "We could just sit here all night, or, just maybe, we could do something."

"Well do you guys just want to stay the night?" Marlena asked, as Chris slowly grinned.

"You know I don't mind. I've been here before." Chris said, as Allen looked at him with a 'you have?' look. Chris smiled in response.

"I dunno, I wouldn't wanna int-"

"Were you just about to say intrude?" Marlena questioned, as Allen smirked, raising his hands defensively. "It's smart you did that, and you know, didn't carry on. That type of talk would have earned you a slap."

"Allen always has liked it rough…" Chris commented, as Allen flashed him a look.

They spent the night, watching "Pirates of the Caribbean". A movie Marlena knew religiously, because of her love for Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp. It was practically her dream movie. She had curled up on the sofa, her attention centered on the television, sipping a coke. Allen had watched from the movie, to her ever so often, but was able to remain subtle. There was, something, about her. He couldn't place it. Chris and Ashleigh were between watching the movie, and just watching each other. When the movie ended, Marlena cleaned up the paper plates and cups from the coffee table.

"Here, let me help." Allen said, and Marlena slowly smiled.

"You really don't have to, but thank you."

He helped her take care of things in the kitchen, as Ashleigh and Chris had claimed the sofa. She was laying her head on Chris' lap, looking up at him, and he was playing with her face with his fingertips. Tweaking her nose, pinching her cheeks, running his finger along the contour of her face, all of which made Ashleigh giggle.

"Stop it, that tickles…"

"But you know you like it!" Chris said with a smirk, as Ashleigh rolled her eyes and smiled.

In the kitchen, Marlena was putting a bottle of coke in the refrigerator, as Allen tossed a couple plates in the waste basket. When Marlena turned around, she nearly ran into Allen, who was turning to bring something to the refrigerator.

"Oh, crap…" Allen said, as Marlena laughed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She said with a smile, as she let him pass. "It happens." Allen smiled a bit, putting a bit of the leftover pizza in the bottom of the refrigerator. "So do you want me to show you your room for the night?"

"Sure." Allen said quietly.

Marlena showed him to the guest room, that was adjacent from hers. She opened the door, and flipped on the light switch, revealing a navy blue themed bedroom, that had a big bed, heavy drapes on the window, and a simple yet classy setup. Allen smiled, nodding his head a bit.

"This is nice." he said, as Marlena smiled.

"Glad you like it." She showed him a door, and slowly opened it. "Come here."

She lead him into another room, and judging by it, it was hers. He looked around, as she was explaining something to him.

"Now, you can use my bathroom. It'll make it easier, all you'll have to do is navigate yourself from your room in here during the night. Don't worry, you won't wake me up, it takes a lot to." She explained, and he gave an understanding nod.

"Alright."

Allen went back into his room, and thankfully, Chris had some clothes there. Sure, they would be a little awkward fitting on Allen, but they'd work. He snatched a tee-shirt, and slept in his boxers and tee-shirt. Chris and Ashleigh went to bed not too long after Marlena had went to bed. Allen actually laid in bed, staring at the ceiling for an extended period of time.

Thoughts ran through his head, he wasn't sure what he was doing. Let alone, what he was feeling. He knew, Marlena had just broken up with Charlie, not too long ago. She was still glowing, though. Nothing seemed to damper or damage her smile. He really looked up to that, even though he looked at it as something more that made him like her. He sighed, slowly standing up from the bed. He had been laying there for a half hour, his eyes wide open, no sleep coming. He peeked through the adjacent door, noticing all lights were out, and the soft sound of "Angel" by Jessica Simpson playing from the radio.

Walking in slowly, Allen was heading toward the bathroom. Maybe a slap of cold water to his face would help him out. There was a little more light in her room, though, from the moonlight shining through pink and white drapes. He saw her asleep, a small smile creeping onto his face. He went into the bathroom, and ran the cold water. Splashing his face with a couple handfuls of water, Allen grabbed the hand towel from the rack, wiping off his face. He looked himself in the mirror, blinking a few times. He was going to give it a month, and if he still felt this way, there was no way he was hushing his mouth.

The next morning came, and after Allen's struggled decision, he was able to get some real sleep. He felt better come the morning, but he was hardly used to getting up, being in shorts and boxers, and come across a woman like Marlena in the kitchen cooking. He felt a little embarrassed, and tried to rush back to the guest room before she saw him. She chuckled softly.

"Good morning, Allen."

He quietly grumbled to himself, as he slowly turned on his heel. She hadn't even looked, how did she know it was him? He slowly walked over to the table, sitting down.

"Mornin'…whatcha cookin'?" he asked quietly, as she smiled.

"Just some eggs, toast, sausage, bacon… you want some?"

"Wow… I haven't eaten a breakfast like that in a long time…" Allen said, as Marlena turned, shaking her head a bit with a light smile.

"Well you NEED to come here more!" Chris said from the doorway, which caused Marlena to smile brighter. "This chick is mean in the kitchen. She's got it going on."

"And you know this how?" Allen asked with a smirk, as Marlena placed a plate down in front of him.

"I'm always cooking for Chris' lazy ass…" She replied with a smirk which caused Allen to laugh. Chris sat down at the table with a smile.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty happy about all that!"

Marlena rolled her eyes with a smirk, as she placed a plate down in front of Chris as well. She was still in her pajamas, of a pair of pink and white plaid lounge pants, and a white kitten tank top, but she excused herself to go change. She changed into black capris, with a baby blue tank top, putting her hair up in pigtails. She had went into Ashleigh's room, who was still surprisingly sleeping. She got on Ashleigh's bed, and started jumping up and down.

"Come on, Ash! Wake up! Wake up!"

Ashleigh grumbled, trying to swat away at the air, but Marlena continued jumping. Ashleigh rolled, but when she did, she rolled right out of bed with a surprised yelp. Looking up from the floor, groggy eyed, she noticed Marlena jumping on her bed with a wicked grin.

"Morning?"

"That's not fair…" Ashleigh whined, as Marlena jumped from the bed, down to the floor. She smiled at Ashleigh.

"Life's not fair, honey. Come on, breakfast is ready. Oh, and Chris and Allen are both already at the table."

Ashleigh got dressed as Marlena left, and a few minutes later, came out dressed in a white skirt, and a pink backless haulter top. She had her sandals in her hand, as she looked a bit tired still, running her hand through her long brunette locks.

"Did anyone else get rudely awoken?" She asked, as Chris and Allen both shook their heads.

"I got up about half hour ago…" Allen said, "Been out here around 20 minutes."

"I smelled food… enough said." Chris admitted, taking a bite from his bacon. Marlena smirked as she leaned against the counter, drinking her coffee.

"Sorry, Ash, I just couldn't resist. You seemed so, content. You clearly couldn't have been dreaming about Chris…" Ashleigh immediately began to blush.

"How do you know?"

"Who's Tom Brady?" Marlena asked, before smirking. She knew, alright, but she wanted so see if Ashleigh had any explanation. "Because you introduced yourself as Ashleigh Brady…Tom's wife…you were still sleeping, though." Ashleigh covered her face, as Chris started chuckling.

"Eh, so what? I'm always dreaming about what being lost on an island with Amy Dumas....though Matt Hardy may try kick my ass..." Chris said, as Marlena smiled.

"Amy is a good girl." She said, as she glanced toward Allen. "You got any crushes, Allen?" Chris slowly grinned at her question, as Allen started to turn a little blush.

"Nah…not really…" He tried to think of what to say, and finally let out a breath. He had something. "Katie Smith…"

"Isn't she that girl from the Minnesota Lynx? Number 30?" Marlena asked, as Ashleigh gave a big smile.

"Katie is the best!" She exclaimed, as Marlena smiled. "What about you, Marlena? What kind of guys do YOU like? Any crushes?"

"Just Alex Rodriguez." Marlena said with a smile, "Well, him and Derek Jeter. I'm a baseball girl, what can I say?" She sat down at the table, cup in hand. "I mean, it started last year, my dad brought me to a Yankees game when he was working in New York… I was seated in the box seats behind 3rd base and saw Alex. What a man…" She said with a giggle, "He's beautiful, talented, and just amazing. Derek's pretty nice himself. And a wicked talented shortstop."

"Another sports gal, nice." Chris said with a smile, "Allen it's smart for business to get with a sports freak!"

Allen gave Chris a look as he took a drink from the glass of orange juice in front of him. He wasn't sure whether he should have leaned over the table, and slapped him stupid. He wanted to, but Marlena didn't take too much consideration into what Chris had said. Not since she picked up the news paper, and turned to the box score page of the sports page.

A few hours had past, and they were at the Asylum. Marlena had picked up conversation with Luther outside of the catering area, and they were walking down the hallway, talking about the night. Luther was a decent guy, Marlena figured, he was engaged to their own April Hunter, as far as she knew. She didn't invade his private life though, they never saw each other outside of the asylum. Maybe it was a smart thing, but she thought of him as a decent friend.

"So tonight what do you know?" Luther asked, as Marlena shrugged.

"Well, we're kicking off the show in the ring. I'm going to address Chris, Chris is going to come out, and the match for tonight is going to be formed. You and me against Ashleigh, Dallas, and Chris. As you know, 'A.J' is going to come to our aid, we win."

"Winning, that's something we're both unfamiliar with as of late."

Luther's comment made both of them laugh, as they continued down the hallway. Allen was leaning in the door of the men's locker room, unsure what to make of it. He didn't really think Marlena and Luther would click on a personal level, after all, with April in the picture, and if it was true, Luther would stay with her. Marlena wasn't his type. She was too, spunky and contentious. Maybe that was just the jealousy talking…thinking, in this case.

There was no denying, that everyone backstage had a respect for each other, even if it wasn't in the storyline in the ring to show it. It was pre-match preparation for the boys to play video games, it was like clockwork. Chris and Allen were in the locker room, with the rest of the guys from the roster, taking turns on the Playstation 2, and Xbox, while the girls, remained in the women's locker room talking. Ashleigh and Marlena on the other hand, had left the asylum, and went out for ice cream.

Back at the asylum, Ashleigh and Marlena joined the guys in the locker room. Allen was playing Julio (Dinero) in a game of Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. Odd, really. Allen had been playing as Slytherin, and he was beating Julio's Ravenclaw by 20. Allen and Julio were bunting against each other, trying to get the other to lose his composure, as Allen's character Draco Malfoy, grabbed the snitch from Julio's Cho Chang.

"Shit! That isn't right!" Julio exclaimed, as Marlena slipped into Julio's lap, taking the paddle from him.

"My turn." She glanced at Julio, "You don't mind me sitting here, right?"

"Not at all, by any means."

She smiled, and looked at Allen, who just gave her a raised eyebrow. Was she challenging him? It certainly looked like it, as this time it was her who picked Slytherin, and he picked Gryffindor.

"You think you can beat me?" Allen asked, an arrogant smile on his face, as Marlena actually laughed at him.

"No, I don't." She said, "I know I can."

The competition got a nice arousal from those watching on. Marlena had obviously played this before, as within the first 2 minutes of the match, she was beating Allen 50 - 0. He went to nudge her, but instead of her having to nudge back and lose concentration, Julio was nudging Allen. Allen smirked as the superstars sitting around, were actually routing against him. She was beating him 210 - 20 when the golden snitch was released, and as Draco Malfoy, she outran his Harry Potter, and grabbed the snitch, enlarging her lead and victory to 360 - 20. He looked at her afterward, shaking his head as she sat crossed legged in Julio's lap.

"That wasn't fair. You cheated."

"I had no intention of playing fair, Allen." She said with a sweet smile, handing Chris Harris the controller. "You can play for me, I have to go get ready for tonight."

"You got it darling." Chris said with a smile.

Marlena smiled to Chris, before smiling at Allen as well. He was trying not to smile back, but somehow, he fell into it. Something about hers was just, contagious. He would have had to not be human to fall into her smile. He shook his head, as he turned his attention back to the game, where he was now playing Chris Harris.

She left the men's locker room, and went to the women's, where she was in need of getting ready. She had her outfit all picked out, she just had to get dressed, and fix her makeup right. It was going to look like she had no idea she would be wrestling. She had a pair of skin tight cream colored hot pants, a white tank top, a white newsboy cap, and a with a pair of white and tan cinderella slide heels. As she was dressed, she was given a post-it note from Tracy Brooks, who let her have her time. The post-it stated that Luther was looking for her, and needed to talk to her about something for that night.

Marlena found Luther by the stage area, where he was looking out at the fans filing into the asylum. She placed her hand on his shoulder, and as he turned seeing her, he smiled.

"Hey, I see you got the message." He said, and Marlena nodded.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Just wanted to know if you heard about the sick bump we're taking tonight." Luther said, as Marlena shook her head a bit. "It's supposed to happen at the beginning of the show. Dallas jumps me, and Chris takes it to you. I end up falling through some tables from the balcony, and you, get power bombed onto me."

"Yikes, sounds sick." Marlena said, before smirking, "I think I like it."

"You've got some serious thrill issues, Marlena…" Luther said with a chuckle, "But that's what makes you easy to work with. Is that what you're wearing for the show?"

"Yeah, got to make it look like I have no idea I'm wrestling." She said, "I'll just be kicking off the shoes to do the match."

"That'll be interesting." Luther replied with a smirk. "Great then, I'll see you at show time."

"See you then."

Marlena walked away from him, secretly contemplating to herself about the shoes. Maybe she could wear her white K-Swiss sneakers, or the white pumps, opposed to slides. It would be easier to wrestle in, instead of bare footed. That would be hard to take to the turnbuckles. She went back to the locker room, where she changed into her white K-Swiss sneakers, opposed to the slides, which was also a little easier for her to walk. And it also looked better.

Marlena was sitting around in the locker room with Stephanie, Ashleigh, and April, when there was a knock on the door. April opened it, and it was for Marlena. Stage hand. He was informing her there was 5 minutes until show time, and how she had to get out to catering where the first set was taking place. She left her conversation with the girls, and told Ashleigh she'd see her soon, obviously, as she left the locker room.

[[ As you know the TNA pay-per-view is going to be a separate chapter. Here's 6. 7 will be the show for April 7th. Hope this chapter was enjoyable. ]]